The conventional steam condenser for a power plant is selected and procured as a unit four to seven years prior to contemplated commercial operation of a power plant. The purchaser is committed to the tube bundles at the time of the purchasing of the condenser. In the construction of a power plant, the steam condensor is one of the first items to be installed. Large condensers are constructed with their shells in various components which are assembled together at the site. Tube bundles are subject to damage during a period of field storage and/or during the assembly of the condenser since a considerable amount of work must be done around and above the tube bundles.
The present invention recognizes a variety of disadvantages associated with the conventional system as described above and sets forth an entirely different sequence of steps which produces advantages to the owner of the power plant.